Washington urges Asia to push Myanmar on elections

SINGAPORE (AFP) – The United States on Wednesday urged Asian nations to pressure Myanmar to hold free and fair elections next year, ahead of an historic summit involving President Barack Obama and the junta's premier.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for the help of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), whose leaders will hold their first ever collective talks with a US president in Singapore this weekend.

"We would like to see countries individually and through ASEAN reach out to the Burmese leadership, persuade them to start planning for free, fair and credible elections in 2010," Clinton said, using the country's former name.

"Certainly China has the opportunity to play a very positive role, as does Thailand, India and other ASEAN countries."

China and India are seen as among the few countries with any influence over reclusive Myanmar, because of their common borders as well as their status as important trading partners.

Myanmar's generals are preparing to hold elections next year but democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for a boycott, calling them a sham designed to legitimise the junta.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a 1990 election in a landslide but the results were never recognised, and she has spent most of the years since under house arrest.

Washington has recently changed its policy on Myanmar, saying it would push for engagement with the military regime because sanctions on their own had failed to bear fruit.

Myanmar is an ASEAN member and its prime minister, Thein Sein, is expected to join Sunday's talks with Obama in what would be the first meeting between a US president and a Myanmar leader in 43 years.

As part of the newly inclusive approach, Clinton said it was in the interests of Myanmar's neighbours to push for democratic reforms after four decades of military rule.

"It is also important to recognise that left alone, the international problems within Burma are not confined within Burma's border," she said, noting that refugees have flowed into Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.

"That instability isn't good for anyone."

The United States last week sent two senior officials to the isolated state to try to promote a new dialogue.

However, Clinton said that despite "thorough and constructive" meetings including with Suu Kyi, "there is a lot of work to do" and progress would not be "easy and quick".

"I reiterated that US sanctions will remain in place until we see meaningful progress in key areas," she said after talks with foreign ministers at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Singapore.

But she said the United States was "not setting or dictating any conditions" to the Myanmar regime.

"We think this has to be resolved within the Burmese people themselves," she said, arguing the United States could "help facilitate space and opportunities for the Burmese people to try to work out the challenges they face".

In a message published in the government press on Wednesday to mark the country's national day, junta chief Than Shwe rejected "neo-colonialist" interference in Myanmar's affairs.

"Nowadays, certain neo-colonialist countries are interfering in the internal affairs of their target countries with the intention of widening the scope of their domination in various fields," he said.

The National League for Democracy meanwhile urged "meaningful political dialogue to solve the political, economic, social, educational and health crises (and) for national reconciliation".

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo Tuesday hailed as a "breakthrough" the summit between Obama and ASEAN leaders, which had been prevented in the past by Washington's refusal to sit down with Myanmar's junta.

The Obama administration has said it will no longer allow its long-standing differences with Myanmar -- condemned for rights abuses and suppressing the opposition -- to undermine its ties with the rest of Southeast Asia.